The Star Trek series introduced us to the Vulcans, living on another planet and the epitome of logic and reason, whose mantra (accompanied by a hand greeting I never managed to master!) is ‘Live long and prosper!’

Interestingly, the Bible has much to say on this theme, connecting the two things to our obedience to God: ‘So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.‘ (Deut 5:32-33)

The Old Testament reminds us that obedience is the highest form of service to God. Jesus reinforced this when He told His disciples, ‘If you love me, obey my commands.’ (John 14:15) Today’s challenge, then, is for us to obey God. Most of the time, this will coincide with obeying man’s laws as well; sometimes it will not. (Acts 5:29) We need wisdom to tell the different and we need hearts that will listen for the spirit of God’s commands, not just for the letter. The religious leaders during Holy Week thought they were doing right in arresting Jesus and having Him killed, for example. We must guard our hearts so that our obedience is not mere empty form or ritual, self-interest disguised as obedience. The obedience God requires arises from a heart devoted to Him. The prophets often warned us of the dangers of obedience that was fuelled by self-righteousness; Micah reminds us that what God requires is for us to ‘act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.’ (Micah 6:8) That’s the way to live long and prosper!

The English used to be famed for their ‘stiff upper lip’; self-control was probably the virtue of which the nation was most proud. Whilst this may have led to repression and suppression, there is much to be said for learning self-control, which is listed as one of the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23) The current tendency to do whatever feels good at the moment with no thought for the long-term or consideration for others is a recipe for disaster.

Self-control means we do not yield to every whim and fancy which dances before our eyes; we pause before we speak or act. Self-control means we do not stamp our feet like the toddler or throw ourselves down on the floor in a paddy every time we don’t get our way (tempting though this may be!) Ultimately, we need God to be in control more than we need to be in control; we need to be soaked in His word and led by His Spirit so that we do not give in to temptation and follow the way of self.

J-P took us all on a time journey back to Jerusalem to think about Palm Sunday. For many, this was a day of celebration, of welcome to the new King, but as we look back on this day, our reactions are often tinged with sadness because we know that the celebration didn’t last long.

On that day, we see Jesus fulfilling prophecy in riding into Jerusalem on a colt – a symbol of peace and not of majesty. Jesus was welcomed as a celebrity, a king whose reputation for healing and miraculous acts was seen as being the way to victory over the Romans, but His mission was actually to serve and to save the oppressed. The crowds waved palm branches and set these and clothes in front of the colt, singing in excitement to Him. The Pharisees were not happy about this response, and we see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, knowing He had come to be the sacrificial Passover Lamb and knowing they would reject Him.

As we reflect on how celebration and sorrow can co-exist in life, we are reminded nonetheless of the purpose behind Jesus’s mission, a purpose of salvation, not condemnation. (John 3:16-17) Every cloud has a silver lining, and as we enter Holy Week and reflect on both the suffering and the glory of the crucifixion and resurrection, we can use the time we have to reflect on God’s great love for us and how this love triumphs over every tragedy.

Tonight at our ‘Little Big Church’, Mickey and Daisy spoke about being sad, missing out on chocolate and sweets and about the meaning of Easter.

Today is Palm Sunday and our reading was from Matt 21:1-11. Dave’s sermon looked at the 4 things we can learn today from Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

1. We must trust God’s timing. Jesus has previously asked people to keep quiet about His ministry and identity, but as He chose to enter Jerusalem riding on a colt and thus fulfilled prophecy (Zech 9:9), He was demonstrating an awareness of the divine timetable which others did not understand. The excitement of the crowd temporarily deterred the authorities, who would otherwise have arrested Jesus at once. Luke’s gospel records that they complained saying, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!”  And He answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”  He was saying, “Don’t you understand? This is the moment that God my Father has been preparing since the foundation of the world for you to have Your Messiah. I am officially here. And if I stop my disciples from singing, then you are going to hear a literal rock concert!” We need to trust God’s timing, even if we don’t understand the road we have to travel.

2. When we give Jesus our time, talents and possessions, God is glorified. We don’t know who gave Jesus the use of the donkey on which he rode, but in doing so, he enabled Messianic prophecy to be fulfilled. When we place whatever we have at the disposal of Jesus – our talents, our presence in His house, our money, our service – they become the means whereby He receives the praise and the acclaim that is His due! The Kingdom of God grows; other people are blessed when we simply give Jesus what we claim as ours because, like this little donkey, our Lord has need of it. What is our ‘donkey’? What can we give?

3. We must love people as Jesus loved them. Luke 19:41 tells us that Jesus wept over Jerusalem; He loved the people and knew that many of them would reject Him and His plan to save the world, and so they would suffer the painful consequences. If we are to walk as He walked then we must not only know how much He loves us, but we must love people as He does. We must be as moved by their pain as God is. We must be moved to real tears by the pain of those around us who hurt because they have rejected God in their lives. We must be prepared to cry with them.

4. We must learn that Jesus’ way is the way of the Cross. The crowds on that first Palm Sunday did not understand the sacrificial nature of the Messiah, that He Himself would be the Passover Lamb. They were looking for a king who would conquer and kill, but instead they found One who walked the path of self-denial and urged His followers to do the same: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Jesus requires all that would follow Him to choose between the way of the world and the way of the Cross.

I love spring flowers: the vibrancy of the different colours after the bleakness of winter, the perkiness of daffodils and tulips in particular.

Tulips have a tendency to droop, however, and I’ve discovered this is because they need a lot of water. Florists advise us to trim tulips by 3-5 cm and cut the stems at an angle to give as much surface area to drink from, to keep them away from direct sunlight and fruit and to change the water frequently in order to keep them perky!

We can be a bit like tulips: sometimes perky, but often droopy! Psalm 24 tells us twice, ‘Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.‘ (Ps 24:7, 9) Psalm 3:3 says, ‘But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.‘ At the risk of repeating myself yet again, we need to come to God and drink from His river of delights if we are to lift up our heads. More than ever, we need to do this now, to set our hearts, our minds and our emotions on things above. (Col 3:1-3) Only then will we be lifted from despondency and despair to vibrancy and hope.